Safe Patient Handling Tools and Tactics

It is essential to have up-to-date policies, procedures and forms to support your safe patient handling program. This section containes tools and tactics that can be used to help you develop your own program.

  • Guidelines/Recommendations

    Guidelines/Recommendations

    Safe Patient Handling: Busting the Myths

    Facts about moving patients, the use of mechanical equipment and creating a change of culture.

    TAGS: Patient, mechanical, Equipment, Culture, change

  • Assessment tools

    Assessment tools

    Safe Patient Handling: A Self-Assessment

    This self-assessment tool examines the number and nature of patient handling injuries occurring in your organization.

    TAGS: examines, Number, Patient, injuries, Organization

  • Checklists

    Checklists

    Safe Patient Handling Program Checklist

    Use this checklist to compare your current policies and practices against best practices in safe patient handling.

    TAGS: Policies, Practices

  • Guidelines/Recommendations

    Guidelines/Recommendations

    Functional Activity and Mobility: Documentation for Hospitalized Adults from Johns Hopkins

    Tools for improving patient outcomes in activity and mobility. It addresses incorporating safe patient handling into care plans and includes case studies on the use of an activity scale to determine the patient’s level of movement assistance.

    TAGS: Patient, handling, plans, movement, assistance

  • Guidelines/Recommendations

    Guidelines/Recommendations

    AORN Guidance Statement: Safe Patient Handling and Movement in the Perioperative Setting

    This guide provides resources for safe patient handling and movement in surgical areas. It was developed by identifying high-risk tasks performed in the perioperative area and developing evidence-based solutions to reduce the risk of injury.

    TAGS: Surgical, areas, Highly, Risk, Evidence-based, base, Reduce, injury

  • Assessment tools

    Assessment tools

    Duke Moves: The Bedside Mobility Assessment Tool

    This bedside mobility assessment tool can be utilized to test a patient’s ability to move safely.

    TAGS: mobility, utilized, Patient, safely

  • Assessment tools

    Assessment tools

    Duke Moves: BMAT-Adult Bedside Mobility Assessment Tool

    Nurses can use this tool to assess patient mobility at the bedside. It facilitates decision making as to the proper lifting technique required for the patient.

    TAGS: Nurse, Patient, techniques

  • Evaluation tools

    Evaluation tools

    Outcomes Measurement Samples

    Sample outcome measures that can be used to measure the success of your SPHM program. This document contains both examples of short and long term measures that can be put in place. Each sample measure includes what it is expected to evaluate and the numerator and denominator that should be collected to calculate the compliance.

  • Assessment tools

    Assessment tools

    Patient Handling and Mobility Assessments: A White Paper

    A comprehensive white paper to address Safe Patient Handling and Mobility from the perspective of technology, physical facility design and construction, and the business case for SPHM programs. This white paper is based on a wealth of research which recognizes the significant risks of manual patient handling to caregivers and to patients.